‘Crazy’ Chelsea moment John Obi Mikel had ‘never seen’ left ‘wise’ player ‘throwing punches’

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Chelsea had a phenomenal squad of players in the mid and late 2000s.

Jose Mourinho won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, and even after he left, the Blues maintained that winning mentality.

John Obi Mikel was a part of the Chelsea squad in that period, and he has shared a lot of stories about his teammates from back in the day.

Now, he has revealed a ‘crazy’ incident that took place at Chelsea’s training ground one day.

John Obi Mikel recalls ‘crazy’ fight between Salomon Kalou and Michael Ballack at Chelsea

Michael Ballack and Salomon Kalou were both fine players for Chelsea.

The German was a massive name in Europe at the time, and he went on to play 167 games for the Blues between 2006 and 2010.

Kalou joined the Blues in the same window as Ballack, but he stayed at the club for two more years. He played 254 games for the club and directly contributed to nearly 100 goals.

Even though the two players played in different positions, they never backed down from a fight, not just against an opponent but between themselves as well.

Mikel has now revealed an altercation between Ballack and Kalou after training many years ago, and it sounds like a ‘crazy’ incident.

He said on The Peter Crouch podcast: “Sometimes we used to have fights, it was just the competitiveness, every weekend you want to be in that starting eleven. That was how it was; we competed with each other. We pushed each other in training, tackles flying in, fights between players, I remember Ballack and Salomon Kalou.

“I’ve never seen Kalou lose it like he lost it. Kalou is a very wise guy, but Ballack is a tall guy, he’s a unit, and he comes to you like: ‘Yeah, I’m Michael Ballack’.

“I don’t know what happened that day, but Kalou just lost it and had a go at Ballack, throwing punches. Everyone came in and separated them, and Kalou has gone. Sometimes, you just lose it.

“I’d already gone inside, we did a warm down, so he [Kalou] is a very, very good friend of mine, you know that, and someone came in and told me ‘your brother is fighting outside’. I was like: ‘What? A fight?’

“So he came back in and never told me what happened, he was so angry he just got in the shower and left, went home. Crazy!”

READ MORE: John Obi Mikel reveals the nickname Chelsea players had for Jose Mourinho that was used only when they lost

There was another big fight between two former Chelsea players

Mikel spent over a decade in the Premier League with Chelsea, and he witnessed everything that happened behind the scenes at the club during his time there.

The story of Kalou and Ballack is ‘crazy’, but that’s nothing compared to what happened between two other former Chelsea players.

Speaking on The High Performance podcast, Mikel revealed that there was an altercation between Andriy Shevchenko and Tal Ben Haim one time, and that ended badly for the latter.

“There were so many fights,” Mikel said. “I remember one with Tal Ben Haim and Andriy Shevchenko, but I think Tal Ben Haim got knocked out properly.

“[Shevchenko was] somebody who never spoke. You would never hear Shevchenko say a word, but it just shows the competitiveness.”